A 7.9-mill additional levy for the Wickliffe School District will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot for city residents.

If approved by the 8,184 registered voters in the district, the levy will cost taxpayers an additional $276.50 annually per $100,000 of property value. The levy is expected to generate $2,198,445 annually.

The district last asked for a levy in 2011. That 7.9-mill additional levy was passed with almost 56 percent voting in favor according to official final results from the Lake County Elections Board.

The district, according to Superintendent Joseph Spiccia, has been forced to ask voters to pass another levy due to the elimination of a Tangible Personal Property Tax. In 2005, Wickliffe Schools were receiving $2.8 million dollars due to the tax, consisting of about 14 percent of their operating budget. After its elimination, the district was receiving reimbursements until its phase out, receiving around $2.1 million, or 10 percent of the school’s budget, in 2015.

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After a line item veto of the reimbursements from Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the biennial budget on June 30, 2015, the district is facing the loss of another $343,000 by Fiscal Year 2017, Spiccia explained.

“Of course, school districts have to balance a budget and all of a sudden we’re faced with having to make up $2.1 million over night,” Spiccia said. “One of the things we want to make sure people understand is this was the direct result of something the state did to us, not something we’re doing to the community.”

The school district was not expected to ask for an additional levy for another year, Lou DeVincentis volunteer levy communications chairperson said.

“Financially, we were being good stewards with the taxpayers money and if it wasn’t for the cuts we would have been able to extend it beyond what we originally projected,” DeVincentis said.

The district has been cutting $1,000,000 from its budget annually since 2011 to increase the longevity of that levy.

“You’re now cutting down to the bare bone,” explained Paul DiCicco co-chair of the Levy Committee. “Anything that happens at this point is everything is on the table, as far as education, athletics, anything.”

Spiccia emphasizes that the levy reaches beyond the school-aged children, since only around 18 percent of Wickliffe residents have children in school.

“When you have strong schools you, obviously, have increased property values, you have decreased crime rates, you become more attractive to businesses and industry because you’re an educated workforce,” he said. “We want people to know this is an investment in their community.”